Ligue 2 – TFC: who really is Mikkel Desler, the untenable defender of Toulouse FC?
He has played 235 games since becoming a professional and showed his first red card against Bastia on January 22. During forced rest, the Dane took the time to tell his story.
He arrived on tiptoe at the end of July. And no one in Toulouse had ever heard of him. However, five days later, he played his first match with the purple jersey in Ligue 2. Six months and 22 league games later, Mikkel Desler (26) has never left the starting lineup of TFC. Difficult to do better in terms of adaptation, but the Dane is not one to throw flowers at each other: “It was quite simple for me because at my previous club (Haugesund, Norway), we were in the middle of the season. So I was in great shape, ready to play”.
The bike instead of the car
From there to imagine playing all the matches? Not really. But the TFC “moped” which travels on average nearly 11 km per meeting launches into an attempt at a rational explanation: “I don’t really have a secret. In fact, I spend my time challenging myself. And playing all the matches is one of the challenges I set myself, he smiles. And to succeed in this challenge, I start by taking care of my body and putting myself in the right conditions. »
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Hardworking, smiling, discreet and humble, you won’t see the TFC right-back driving a big car like many of his teammates. Mikkel, his thing is cycling. Moreover, after having covered his dozen terminals one evening of a match, he returns home by bike, in the center of Toulouse. “I love this moment when I take the bike after a match. It helps me to bring the pressure down, it’s an additional cleaning, ”he laughs.
When he is not at the Stadium, the tall blond spends a lot of time outside, on “the banks of the Garonne” in particular. Happy in his new city, he concedes to being like a child when he gets lost in the narrow streets of the center. “Where I come from, it doesn’t exist. I had never seen this architecture. There were only high buildings, large avenues… For me these small streets are incredible, I love to walk there and there are not many cars, it’s very pleasant…”
economics and statistics
He took such a liking to it that he even decided to live there. Unlike most of his teammates who live in the residential suburbs, the Dane has settled in the heart of the “small streets of the Saint-Etienne district”. Attached to “his space and his freedom”, Mikkel Desler is neither roommate nor companion with him. “I love being alone with myself but I spend a lot of time at the café with my teammates or guiding my family or friends when they come to see me”.
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And since it’s not just the foot in his life, the tireless defender has set himself another challenge: to get a bachelor’s degree in economics. Not really passionate about the specialty, but curious to discover something else. “You never know, maybe one day it will be useful to me…”.
In the meantime, the statistics, it is on the ground that he cultivates them. With a goal and two assists, the Dane is not satisfied. But he did not want to reveal if he had proposed another challenge on this subject.